Zags selected for CS Fullerton Regional

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's baseball team will face Georgia Southern University (42-15) at 3 p.m. Pacific time Friday in the opening game of the NCAA Regionals hosted by Cal State Fullerton.

The Bulldogs (35-16) learned their fate Monday morning when the 64-team bracket was announced. The Bulldogs, making their first Regional appearance since 1981, are the third seed while the Eagles are the No. 2 seed. The host Titans (42-14) are the No. 2 national seed and the top seed in the Regional and will face fourth-seed University of Utah (26-29) in Friday's 7 p.m. contest.

Friday's losers meet Saturday at 2 p.m. with the winners squaring off at 6 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament.

Tickets will go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. through the Gonzaga ticket office by calling (509) 313-6000. All-tournament reserved seats are $80 and general admission tournament passes are $68. Fans can also go through the Cal State Fullerton ticket office for single game tickets which are $15 for reserved seats and $10 for general admission. Cal State Fullerton also has tournament box seats available for $105 for single-game box seats for $20.

Gonzaga earned the automatic berth from the West Coast Conference by sweeping Loyola Marymount University in the best-of-three series last weekend at Patterson Baseball Complex and Washington Trust Field. Gonzaga won 4-3 in Friday's opener then got a three-home-run, 8-RBI performance from Ryan Wiegand to coast to a 14-3 win Saturday.

Georgia Southern won the Southern Conference Tournament with a 7-3 victory over regular-season champion Elon University Sunday. It was the first SOCON title for the Eagles since 2002. The Eagles finished second during the regular season to Elon.

The Eagles are paced by catcher Griffin Benedict who is hitting .401 with 11 home runs and a team-leading 61 RBI. He has a .627 slugging percentage and a .522 on-base percentage. Benedict tied for second in home runs with three others - right fielder Phillip Porter, leadoff hitter and centerfielder Ty Wright and designated hitter Kyle Blackburn, the SOCON Tournament MVP. Third baseman A.J. Wirnsberger led the team with 13 round trippers. The Eagles hit 80 home runs this season after slapping 114 a year ago.